Field Status at a Glance

Four Idaho Rush teams will try to use their homefield advantage to advance to the late stages of the Region IV President's Cup beginning June 12 at the Simplot Sports Complex. President's Cup is the "little brother" of Far West Regionals, and the field is typically made up of State Cup runners-up, although states with smaller populations are allowed to send third- and fourth-place teams. In 2010, an Idaho Rush U16 boys team went all the way to the national finals before losing 1-0, so there is precedent for a Rush team going deep into the tournament. These are the four teams that will be in action next week:

Girls U13 Nike: The girls finished the season strong with a win in the U14 girls division at the Hot Shots Tournament in Coeur d'Alene but lost in the semifinals at State Cup 2-0 to Coeur d'Alene. They rebounded for a 1-0 win over Fury-Velocity to claim third place and a spot in President's Cup. The girls will open with Nevada Elite Blue, which also dropped a semifinal match to Las Vegas Premier last month, before taking on Rebels SC, which won the Cal-South President's Cup championship in PKs. The girls take on Utah's Wasatch SC in their final group stage match. Wasatch comes into the tournament as a bit of a mystery with no available tournament or State Cup records.

Girls U16 Nike: The U16 girls may have the toughest draw of the four Rush teams. First up is Mission SF of California, winner of the U15/U16 Silver Division of May's San Francisco Cup and champion of the Cal-North President's Cup in April. They will face their second consecutive President's Cup champion when they take on Utah's Wasatch SC, which also reached the final of the La Roca Cup last summer. Crossfire Select of Washington, winner of the Pacific Coast Super Cup in January, rounds out the trifecta of tournament champions the girls will face. The Rush girls will look to end the year on a higher note than State Cup, where they surprisingly lost two games out of four to finish in third place.

Boys U13 Nike: The boys face stiff tests in their first two matches when they take on Rialto SC, finalist in the Cal-South President's Cup in January, and Club America of Colorado, winner of five different tournaments in the past 12 months including the Real Colorado Cup just last month. Rush will see a somewhat familiar face in their final match when they play Jackson Hole United. Jackson did not play the Nike team last year, but they lost to both the Swoosh-White team 2-1 in May at the Canyon Rim Classic and the Swoosh-Blue team 3-0 at the Gem State Challenge in October.

Boys U15 Nike: The boys' draw will have a decidedly California flavor when they take on two Golden State teams in their first two games. Idaho Rush will take on Bay Area-club Peninsula SC in their opening match. Peninsula dropped a 2-1 decision in the finals of April's Cal-North President's Cup. The California touch continues when they face Orcutt United, winners of the Cal-South President's Cup behind an eight-game winning streak, including three games that went into overtime. The team is only the second from the club to win a President's Cup championship. Idaho will round out its group stage games against Vegas United, a finalist in last year's Region IV President's Cup tournament in Denver. United lost in the State Cup semifinals in May and in the semifinals at the Northern California Spring Showcase in March.

We will update this tournament web page as the tournament rolls along, adding scores and updating schedules when Rush teams gain the semifinals and finals, as needed. To add game photos or stories about particular teams in the tournament, e-mail Mark French.

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President's Cup daily roundup

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Day 1

Idaho Rush's two girls teams both nailed down opening-round wins at the 2013 Presidents' Cup on Wednesday, putting them on the path toward advancing out of the group stage. Both boys teams will need to rally on Thursday, though, as they both lost their opening-round matches.

The boys U13 Nike team started the day with a surprising 6-0 loss to Rialto Fire. Both teams played good, attractive soccer and Rush was frequently able to string eight and 10 passes together. But the depth of quality players for Rialto was too much for the boys as the Cal-South team built a 3-0 halftime lead. But Rush was getting opportunities and there was hope at halftime. "Had we got the first goal (of the second half), it would have changed the game," said head coach Carlos Correa. "But when they got their fourth it was over."

The early time slot wasn't any kinder to the boys U15 Nike team, which lost to 3-1 to Redwood Peninsula of Cal-North in a game filled with missed opportunities and generous defending. Redwood started the scoring early when they capitalized on a mishit punt to go up 1-0. The boys seemed to regain their feet for the entire first half, carrying the play and creating multiple scoring chances. Muganza Katanga leveled the match halfway through the first half, but a half-dozen open looks at goal went begging. Redwood benefited from Rush mistakes twice more in the second half as an errant defensive header and a uncleared free kick from the halfway line each resulted in a goal. "All three goals were gifts," said head coach Jens Haustein. "There was not one goal that came through good combination play or a good build-up."

The girls U13 Nike team turned Rush's fortunes around with a scrappy 2-1 win over Nevada Elite. The Reno squad was clearly the better side for the majority of the match, and even went up 1-0 in the first half. But Rush hang around, defending desperately and trying to take advantage of half-chances here and there. The hard work finally paid off in the final minute of the first half when Jessa Saum poked home a ball the Nevada Elite goalkeeper either fumbled had kicked out of her hands, depending on who you ask. More scrappy defending and hard work carried Rush through to the final minute of the match, when Gabi Coprivnicar knocked home a game-winner just before the final whistle, allowing Rush to steal the three points.

The girls U16 Nike team lead from start to finish behind the stellar work of Grace Hancock and Madelyn Minnaert to get a 3-0 win over Mission SF of Cal-North. Grace provided a knock-down header to the feet of Madelyn for the first goal of the match, and Madelyn returned the favor to Grace for the second goal. The win puts the girls in a great position to advance to the quarterfinals, as 8-of-12 teams advance, and four points from group play should probably do the trick.

NOTE: Idaho teams went a combined 6-12 in the opening day of the tournament.

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DAY 2

The girls U16 Nike team gained passage to the quarterfinals on Thursday, while the girls U13 Nike team lost but still remains in good shape to match the feat. Both boys teams, though, are hanging by a thread after each lost their second game of the tournament.

The girls U16 Nike team started the day right for Idaho Rush with a 2-0 win over Wasatch SC of Utah, guaranteeing their passage to the quarterfinals. Rush got on the board halfway through the first half with a lovely build-up starting with right back Isabel Cortens and flowing through a combination of five midfield and front line players before Grace Hancock knocked home a back-post volley. The score stayed 1-0 until the final two minutes of the match, when Grace got her third goal in two games to seal the win on a counterattack. "It was a bit disappointing to think we had dominated like that but we were only up 1-0 and could be countered at any time," said head coach Lee Riley. "They had some pretty good pressure on us for the last 10 minutes or so." With a win over Crossfire (Wash.) Select on Friday, the girls would claim the top seed coming out of the group stage. Crossfire lost 1-0 on Thursday to Mission SF, which Rush beat 3-0 to open the tournament.

The boys U15 Nike dropped their second match of the tournament when Orcutt Crusaders scored with five minutes left on the clock to win 1-0. Rush played a man down for the final 20 minutes after having a player sent off for verbally abusing a referee. Until that time, the boys were playing an even match with the Cal-South President's Cup champion. The boys are a long shot to qualify for the quarterfinals. They must beat International SC (Nevada) tomorrow and hope for help in the other groups to qualify as a "best third-place team". International is 2-0 so far.

The boys U13 Nike was steamrolled for the second consecutive day, losing 6-0 to Club America of Colorado. The loss all but eliminates Rush from the quarterfinals. They would need to beat Jackson (Wyo.) United on Friday by at least four goals and get a lot of help in the other groups.

The girls U13 Nike team ran out of gas in the second half, dropping a 6-0 decision to Rebels SC of Cal-South. There was a glimmer of hope at halftime with the girls down only 2-0, but the game slipped away the longer the clock ticked on. The girls still have every opportunity to advance to the quarterfinals, but they will need to get at least a point out of Friday's game with Wasatch (Utah) SC. That may be a difficult task as Wasatch lost by a single goal to Rebels in Wednesday's opener and beat Nevada Elite Blue 2-0 on Thursday. Rush could still advance with only the three points they earned in their opening round win, but they will probably need some help in other games in that scenario.

NOTE: Idaho teams went a combined 6-10-2 in Thursday's games.

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Day 3

The girls U16 Nike team recovered from a one-goal deficit to earn a 1-1 draw with Crossfire Select (Wash.) and claim the top seed in their group heading into this afternoon's quarterfinals. The girls went down halfway through the first half when Crossfire poked home a goal from a cross. But forward Grace Hancock came to the rescue once again, getting her fourth goal in three games when she launched a rocket into the upper left-hand corner of the net to level the match at 1-1. Rush advances to play Colorado Rush-Swoosh in Friday's quarterfinals. Colorado won two of their three group-stage matches, 3-0 over La Roca Select (Utah) and 1-0 over International ISC (Nev.). Their only blemish is a 3-0 loss to group winner San Luis Obispo Storm (Cal-South).

The boys U13 Nike team was eliminated from the tournament despite a 3-0 win over Jackson Hole Utd (Wyo.). The three points from the win were enough to put them in a three-way tie for "best third-place" team, two of which would advance to the quarterfinals. But big losses in each of their first two games created a goal-differential that was too deep to overcome. Mac Herbold opened the scoring for Rush in the first half when he buried his 1v1 opportunity with the goalkeeper. Max Peterson doubled the Rush lead after halftime when he finished a Sam Ryan free kick with an easy tap-in at the back post. Sam got the third goal of the match with seconds remaining in the match and in his career with Idaho Rush. Sam is moving out of state during the summer and the youngster -- the usual starting goalkeeper -- got a goal and an assist in his final game.

The boys U15 Nike also got a 3-1 win over previously unbeaten International SC (Nev.) in their final group stage game but was eliminated from the tournament. It was a good way to end what had been a frustrating tournament for the boys. Eric Lyon started the scoring for Rush with a goal in the first half, and the boys could have doubled their lead but for a missed penalty kick. International rallied to level the match at 1-1 10 minutes into the second half. Rush responded 5 minutes later when Brennan Gazdik dropped a free kick from the right-hand side of the field onto the waiting head of Dante Pennell, who headed home the goal. John Ryden finished the scoring when he chipped in a rebound from a collision with the goalkeeper and a hard-charging Dante Pennell.

The girls U13 Nike team backed into the quarterfinals on the heels of a 5-0 loss to Wasatch SC (Utah) by virtue of their opening-round win over Nevada Elite. The girls will face Pono SC of Hawaii on Saturday morning. Pono won all three of it's group-stage games, 5-0 over Fair Oaks Explosion (Cal-North), 6-0 over Alaska Rush and 1-0 over Colorado Rush-Swoosh. Pono was upset in the State Cup final by Hawaii Rush and so far during the Region IV President's Cup, they have been taking their revenge on other Rush clubs. Pono also won the Slammers Classic last summer in southern California.

The girls U16 Nike team couldn't find the back of the net in Friday afternoon's quarterfinal match with Colorado Rush-Swoosh, falling 1-0. The first 10 minutes belonged to Idaho Rush as the girls created a number of close scoring opportunities. But it was Colorado Rush that scored on a counterattack, putting their left-sided midfielder in on goal with a decisive pass inside the right back. Two touches later and a well-taken shot to the back post, and Colorado Rush was ahead 1-0 with 12 minutes gone. The balance of the first half was a sloppy affair with both teams giving the ball away frequently and neither team developing any rhythm. The second half was different, though, with Idaho Rush carrying the balance of play. But the girls simply could not find an equalizer and their tournament run came to an end.

The girls U13 Nike team bowed out of the tournament with a 4-1 loss to Pono SC (Haw.) Saturday morning. The goal scored was the first goal given up by Pono in the tournament.

NOTE: Idaho teams went a combined 8-9-1 on the final day of pool play, including a remarkable 6-2 for the boys teams. Idaho also placed seven teams (out of 18) in the quarterfinals, including two teams at U16 boys and two teams at U17 girls. Idaho is guaranteed one team in the semifinals as both U16 boys teams face one another in their quarterfinal game.

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Finals notes

The final results showed Idaho Rush teams had some of the toughest draws at the tournament. In the U13 boys division, the two teams that played in the championship match (Club America of Colorado def. Rialto SC 3-2 in overtime) were both in the same pool as Idaho Rush. The exact same thing happened to the U13 girls, as Wasatch Storm (Utah) def. Rebels SC (Cal-South) 2-1 in the final, and both were in the same pool as Idaho Rush. The U16 girls faced both teams in the final, too, losing 1-0 to eventual champion Colorado Rush-Swoosh after defeating runners-up Mission SF (Cal-North) 3-0 in their first game of the tournament. The U15 boys actually beat eventual champion International SC (Cal-South) in group play 3-2. Runners-up Highline Premier FC (Wash.) was the only finalist an Idaho Rush team did not play.

Seven teams from Idaho reached the quarterfinals, but only three made it as far as the semifinals. The U17 girls Xtreme made it the closest to the finals, losing 1-0 to eventual champion Eastside FC (Wash.).